Status of Day Care in Canada 1978: A Review of the Major Findings of the National Day Care Study 1978.

National Day Care Information Centre, Ottawa (Ontario).

This paper, presented in both English and French, reviews the major findings of the 1978 National Day Care Study in Canada. Among the findings: (1) the number of spaces in day care increased slightly (from 81,651 in 1977 to 82,279 in 1978); this increase is attributable to the expansion of family day care: while spaces in day care centers decreased from 1977 to 1978 by 160l, family day care spaces increased by 2229 over 1977; (2) more than three-quarters of the children enrolled in day care centers are between the ages of 2 and 6; (3) an estimated 5.73% of children under age 2 of working mothers and 12.65% of children between age 2 and 6 of working mothers are enrolled in day care, but only .39% of children age 6 and over (but under 15 years of age) of working mothers are enrolled in day care; (4) about half of all the day care spaces in Canada are being subsidized, and about 95% of all the children in non-profit centers are subsidized. Field observations suggest that the status of day care in 1979 will remain substantially unchanged over 1978. (MP)